There are many situations where in an enclosed environment suspended particulate matter is being constantly generated which particulate material is often deleterious to the workers in the room and/or the product being produced. Particularly bad offenders in this regard are machine and metal working shops and automobile service areas and body shops. Many systems have been proposed for the filtering of the air in such enclosed environments, but none to date have been entirely satisfactory at a reasonable price. For example, electrostatic precipitators have been hung from a shop ceiling with the air being circulated in series through them to remove the particulate matter and other contaminates. Besides the fact that the electrostatic precipitators at the ceiling level are difficult to service--and they do require regular cleaning--this arrangement requires that the air from the floor of the shop be drawn up past the workers on the floor to the electrostatic units, giving the workers a better opportunity to inhale the contaminated air.
In another system, the filtering unit is placed on the floor and the filtered area air is blown toward the ceiling without proper distribution through a duct. Undue turbulence results and the distribution of the air is not uniformed throughout the enclosed space. When the room is heated, the warmer air tends to collect underneath the ceiling and if proper distribution of the filtered air is not observed, localized air circulation cells may be set up that will draw the contaminated air to the ceiling, rather than allow it to flow along the floor to the filtration unit.
There has been a desideratum therefore for a cost and performance effective air filtration/air distribution system for enclosed environments to purify contaminated air therein. There has been a need for an effective re-circulating air filtration system that is mechanically uncomplicated and easy to service and maintain.
The present invention proposes such a system.